WHEN RESIDENTS BEHAVE LIKE WOLVES AT A BURIAL CEREMONY

By John Blanshe Musinguzi

I recently attended a send off ceremony of an elder in our village. He succumbed to Tuberculosis after a long battle. He was famous for bee keeping in our community. However what irritated me is how residents behaved like wolves while fighting for meat.

It’s unfortunate that parties have vanished from our community, I don’t know why?. It was during jovial moments at parties when local-people would eat meat peacefully. Currently, everything has changed; people seem to shamelessly target burial ceremony chances to eat meat.

 I think that it is too early for people to behave in such a manner because it’s just two from Christmas jubilation which is always characterised by only eating meat. Traditionally, during Christmas season, we would anticipate to get new clothes and join other at church so that they can stare at us.

This habit is creeping faster than I expected, recently I argued how the remaining communal burial pledges is the only positive behavioural that we trade from our community. The rest is poverty, gambling, fornication, divorce, atheism, etc.

I have come to learn that communal burial pledges do still exist amidst poverty simply because people expect return i.e. slaughter a cow for them. To lose a loved one and a cow is double loss, the family of the deceased must plan among other things to purchase a cow if they want to attract a mammoth of crowd or else bury their loved one alone.

Whenever a person die, appetite rise beyond ordinary level followed by salivating minute after minute. I can confess, it is only at burial ceremonies where people come in time. When you call a meeting for example, the first come at least two hours later but when you add that logistics are free, even those who are not invited to attend do come in person. 

Sincerely, I can’t understand why a person  who cannot purchase a kilogram of meat for his/her family should fight for meat at a burial ceremony. We have lost localism which made everyone admire our community. Condolences would be lift family of the deceased from economic shock which they suffer to finance funeral expenses.

 A strategic politician who wishes to tame our community can purchase a bull for our residents. It is enough get a landslide victory. Janet Kataaha Museveni, our member of parliament instead of giving yellow t-shirts to voters should slaughter cows for people if he wants to be worshiped forever.

The author is an undergraduate journalism and communication student@Makerere University